Free westinghouse sewing machine
 

Hello,
I have an old Free Westinghouse sewing machine. It works and I need some help. I have attached pictures. The motor starts but the small back wheel doesn't connect with the large metal wheel unless I push the half circle thing in the back that is attached to the small wheel covered at the end with a piece of black rubber. This half circle thing moves up and down a little bit. I don't know if that is supposed to happen or not. If I move it and hold it up a little it connects and all is well. Of course it is hard to sew while holding it up. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Jackie

If the motor pulley touches the hand wheel it probably just needs a new rubber pulley. I think SewClassic have them. I don't know this model first hand, there might be some adjustment or release action on these but I can see any from the picture. Some of these take slightly different needles than the basic domestic type. If you don't get any detailed help and hints here on the QB go to Victorian Sweatshop, there are lots of expert help to be found.

A temporary fix for the rubber wheel might be to rought the surface with a bit of sand paper, then apply some gripping resin (violin bow resin) to get some gripping action back. New rubber will make all the difference. The winder needs new rubber tire too.

What you are looking for is called a friction drive wheel. That should take care of using it one handed. and yes the bobbin tire would be useful also. Welcome to the board.

I don't know anything about servicing a sewing machine, but I had to chime in because I also have a Free-Westinghouse machine. It is like the one my mother had and that my sister and I learned to sew on. My mother had sold hers many years ago, but when my sister and I saw this one at an estate sale, we had to buy it. I haven't even tried it, because I'm not mechanically inclined. I read the manual, and it stated that you have to use their brand specific needles. Do you know if that is true and if they are hard to find?

Good luck with your machine.

Leslie[ATTACH=CONFIG]596184[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]596185[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]596186[/ATTACH]

If it's like the NSMCo Reversew Rex that used a now-scarce needle with a longer shank, a modern sewing machine needle will work. you just can't insert the needle all the way up to the stop. It has to be left about 1/16" short.

Some actually grind down a regular 15x1 needle for these, but it's not ideal. I found this info in a thread on the Victorian Sweatshop forum, the still availble 206X13 are said to work ideally on this machine. It looks like the original needle was a CC1221 and had an equivalent Boye number.

Both of you have to let us know how this machine runs and stitches. The rotary mechanism is suppose to run very light and smooth, but I guess a new rubber friction wheel would be a must to even notice.

opalstar, does the motor just rotate downwards when you let go of it? It's supposed to be spring loaded to hold the pulley against the handwheel.

Also I want to point out these machines use C1221 needles, like Mickey2 said, but it's actually quite
simple to reset the needlebar height to take 15x1 needles.

Rocsew, do you have a FW rotary? There is some concern on the ratio between thread hole and needle tip that makes it different from the regular 15x1 needle. It might interfere with threads interlocking properly If it works for those who use this model on a regular basis I guess a needlebar adjustment might be the way to go. The advantage with a regular 15x1 needle is the selection of sizes and tips available (sharp, butted, leather, etc).

Yup, I have one and it works fine with 15x1 needles, it's just a matter of timing the eye of the needle to the hook. Distance from the eye to the hook doesn't really matter.